Note: This is part of a series of posts you'll see over the next week or so on ArizonaSports.com. We had a panel of 16 voters, including all of our on-air personalities, cast votes in several categories like Athlete of the Year, Team of the Year, Coach of the Year, Best Moment of the Year and many others.

The Valley is blessed with very good sports general managers.

The arrival of Steve Keim and Ryan McDonough has given Cardinals and Suns fans hope for the rapid rebuilds of two previously floundering franchises.

Coyotes' GM Don Maloney has a proven track record of constructing competitive hockey teams on a shoestring budget and under the constraints of NHL ownership. With IceArizona taking over the franchise, the hope is that Maloney will thrive even more with newfound financial freedom.

And D-backs fans are hoping that Kevin Towers finds his past success and can pull the team out of a two-year stretch of mediocrity.

Our panel of voters considered all the options, and they've voted one executive at the top of the heap in 2013.

Keim, who has been with the Cardinals organization since 1999 in various capacities, was elevated to the position of general manager in early January and immediately started sweeping changes.

He hired Bruce Arians as the team's new head coach. He engineered a daring 2013 NFL Draft strategy that saw the team nab defensive back Tyrann Mathieu in the third round and running back Andre Ellington in the sixth round. He acquired quarterback Carson Palmer from the Oakland Raiders for a song and brought in starters John Abraham and Eric Winston on the eve of training camp.

In all, nearly 200 roster moves have been made since Keim took over -- a key ingredient in turning a team that went 5-11 in 2012 into a 10-win team still in the hunt for the playoffs just a year later.